The NPR Politics Podcast - Weekly Roundup: September 17th

Episode Date: September 17, 2021

Saturday's "Justice For J6" rally is being held to protest government treatment of people who participated in the riot. It could serve as a test of how the Capitol Police force has evolved since January's attack.And congressional testimony by prominent U.S. gymnasts about the Federal Bureau of Investigation's handling of their sexual abuse allegations raises major questions about the organization's culture and accountability apparatus.This episode: White House reporter Scott Detrow, congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell, congressional reporter Claudia Grisales, and national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson.Connect:Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Find and support your local public radio station.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hello, this is Tammy Stephens in Merced, California. I have just earned a Master of Arts degree at the University of the Pacific. I am vision impaired, and you are hearing the voice I have chosen for my screen reading software program. This podcast was recorded at... Oh, congratulations. It is 1.35 Eastern on Friday, September 17th. By the time you hear this, things may have changed.

Okay, here's the show. That's awesome. Congratulations. Yeah, very cool. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Scott Detrow. I cover the White House. I'm Claudia Grisales. I cover Congress. And I'm Kelsey Snell. I also cover Congress. And I'm Kelsey Snell. I also cover Congress. So tomorrow, a far right group is coming to Washington, D.C. to try and show support for the rioters who attacked the Capitol in January in an attempt to thwart the United States democratic process. That was, of course,

a deadly, violent day whose repercussions continue to play out across American politics. Talking about tomorrow's rally, though, it's called Justice for J6 for January 6. And it's really the first major security test for the Capitol Police since that attack, which just to underscore how deadly and violent it was, left at least 130 police officers injured. More than 600 of the rioters have now been charged. And that's the focus of this rally. Claudia, you have been covering this. Before we get into the context of what these people are trying to do with the Capitol, there have been a few false alarms since January 6th. There have been some thwarted potential violent moments. There has been more violence at the Capitol. So at this point, how seriously are

Capitol Police taking this particular rally? It appears very seriously. Hindsight being 2020, we're seeing a lot of what were the weaknesses highlighted that day and in the day since being talked about very loudly in terms of improvements. Just this afternoon, security leaders for the Capitol and in the region held a joint press conference, walking the public through their various preparations. Remember in the past, prior to January 6th, the public was largely in the region held a joint press conference, walking the public through their various preparations. Remember in the past, prior to January 6th, the public was largely in the dark when it came to how the Capitol was being prepared for various events and its security plans. For example, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger talked about the goals for tomorrow.

The U.S. Capitol Police Department has been working around the clock for the last several weeks to ensure that we have a safe event tomorrow. But perhaps more importantly, over the last eight months, the leadership of the U.S. Capitol Police Department has been preparing, working to ensure that we don't have a repeat of January 6th. So some really interesting comments from this press conference. For example, one of the key concerns is clashes between these protesters who are protesting the treatment of some of these individuals who were charged from January 6th could meet up with counter-protesters. And two to three groups could be there as counter-protesters.

What is the goal and the point of this gathering? So this group, I spoke to the founder. His name is Matt Brainerd. And he said he wanted to raise awareness. There were certain individuals, he says, that basically just walked into the Capitol, the way he describes it, as if they were peaceful protesters. Of course, we saw the video. We saw officers being assaulted. However, this is his claim. This is his group's claim. And they say they want to raise awareness. They'll have draft resolutions in hand, trying to focus attention on how some of these individuals, these defendants, are being treated, if they are being incarcerated, the conditions that they're facing, what have you.

The name of the group is Look Ahead America. And he said another group could be joining them, but he continues to repeat that it's a peaceful protest and as many as 700 could be expected. So 700, at the moment, a far, far smaller estimate, just to be clear, of the amount of people who came on January 6th. Exactly. For example, the founder of this group has mentioned maybe as many as 700, the estimates could be higher, but we've also heard that it could be a much smaller number. The environment at the Capitol is just really different now than it was in January, right? The security that we see every day just to get up to the Capitol has changed a lot over the past couple of months. So, I mean, what are they going to see when they get there? Yeah, so now the fencing has

returned. You know, this is a very controversial issue for some folks. They don't like that fencing. It was up for about six months after January 6th came down in July. But we've seen some members who hated the fencing idea, like Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt, say, listen, if we use it temporarily, that's the way to go, not to have this up permanently. And that's the hope. They'll take that up just for this event and take it down very quickly. Also, National Guard will be on standby. It's possible we could see them. Manger said they would be called in if the day goes longer than they expected. Kelsey, I just want to get back to the point of this demonstration, this idea that January 6th was not as violent as the narrative has made it out to be.

Of course, it is a totally false idea. We have seen the video. We have seen the testimony. We have seen all the evidence of just how violent and dangerous January 6th was. But that basic rewriting of history is something that has crept more and more and more into the narrative from House Republicans especially. Like, what is the best way to frame

how they're talking about this at this point? I would say part of the way they're handling this is not talking about it, is avoiding conversations about it unless they happen to be people who are either defending it or are in leadership and are forced to talk about it. We've saw the House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said that he doesn't expect that any Republicans will be in attendance. But it is a very, very awkward position for some of them who, you know, Claudia,

you've experienced this a lot, right, where you try to get Republicans to talk about this, and they either avoid the question or they deflect it. And it's awkward as a reporter to try to get a fulsome response, in part because it always comes back to the way former President Trump is messaging this. And there's a lot of triangulation that seems to be happening. Kelsey, you mentioned Trump there. I mean, his language and his constant press releases, because he's banned from social media, have become increasingly strident about January 6, as well, and almost, you know, supportive tones in many ways saying, the people who attacked the Capitol did nothing wrong. What, if anything, has he been saying about this rally?

So Trump hasn't really talked about this rally very much. There was one interview where he kind of called it a setup. But beyond that, he's not going out there and calling for people to come to Washington. He's not engaging in getting people to come and protest, to be a part of it the way that he was on January 6th. But that said, you know, I spoke to Republican Adam Kinzinger about this, and he said one thing to keep in mind tomorrow is that the people who do show up are a fraction of more out there who believe what they believe in terms of defending these individuals. All right, we're going to take a quick break. Claudia, stick around because you'll be back in the show for Count Let It Go. Woohoo! And when we get back, American gymnast testified before Congress this week about the abuse of former USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar. It was a high-profile hearing.

We're going to talk about it with Kerry Johnson. Support for NPR and the following message come from Verizon. Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Alex Cervelo, shares how Verizon is helping schools bring technology into the classroom and working to move the world forward for all. We wanted to ensure that students and teachers have access to innovative learning tools and the proper training to successfully integrate them into the classroom, whether that be in person or in a hybrid setting. To learn more, go to citizenverizon.com. And we're back and joined now by Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson. Hey, Carrie. Hey, Scott. So we're going to talk about a high-profile congressional hearing earlier this week.

Prominent American gymnasts like Simone Biles and Michaela Maroney were in front of the Senate to testify about the FBI's handling of the Larry Nassar case. This was pretty powerful testimony. You covered it. Starting out, just remind us what the case was and why the FBI specifically is under scrutiny here. Yeah, one of the more memorable congressional hearings I think I've ever witnessed. What happened here is that the former physician Larry Nassar, who had

ties to the U.S. Olympic Gymnast Committee and some other places, eventually was convicted of sexual abuse of over 150 young women and girls under the guise of medical treatment. He was assaulting them. And basically, the FBI got a tip off about this in 2015, Scott, but it didn't do anything for over a year. It turned out the Bureau finally interviewed one person, Michaela Maroney, on the phone, not even in person. And she described in her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee how the agent on the other end of the phone listened to her account, didn't really seem all that interested. And then finally asked her when she was done pouring out her heart to this FBI agent, he finally asked her words to the effect of, is that all there is? Is that it? And just how devastated she was. By not taking immediate action from my report, they allowed a child molester to go free for more than a year. And this inaction directly

allowed Nassar's abuse to continue. It turned out that in between the time the FBI first got a tip off and when local authorities in Michigan took action against Larry Nassar, the inspector general at the Justice Department found at least 70 other young women and girls had been victimized by him. 70. That is such an astounding number. Yeah, and lawyers for the survivors think it may be even more than 70. It's really hard to say, but horrible in any event.

Before we keep going into the powerful testimony that we heard earlier this week, how has the FBI responded to these allegations? Because these are devastating allegations. I mean, it seems like every ball was dropped. Every ball was dropped. The current FBI director, Christopher Wray, was not on board at the Bureau at the time of these events. He turned to these four elite level gymnasts this week on the Hill and expressed profound sorrow for what had happened to them and basically said it was inexcusable the FBI's failure to act and when it did act and it appeared to basically cover up what it knew back in the day on this stuff. Wray said that

they've made a number of changes in terms of paperwork and training to try to make sure that people, FBI agents who interview survivors of sexual assault and sexual abuse have more sensitivity, that they are trained in how to ask questions of adolescents and children in particular, and that they are going to communicate more as they should have all along with state and local police on a lot of these issues. But Scott, I mean, come on, basically what the FBI did here for a long time was nothing. And so it's hard to imagine that having paperwork in place is going to change a culture that may be wrong. Carrie, in terms of what the gymnast told Congress, were they telling the

story of their interactions with Nassar or were they talking about their interactions with the FBI? Yeah, a little of both, Kelsey. Simone Biles, perhaps the best gymnast in the world, perhaps the best gymnast of all time, started with some emotional words about how the problem was not just Larry Nassar, but the system at large. To be clear, I blame Larry Nassar. And I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse. And one thing that really struck me was that Simone Biles hinted she remained in the sport and didn't retire earlier in part because she wanted to be a living symbol to remind people that she had survived Nassar's abuse and that the sport still hadn't done enough about it. And then we heard from

Michaela Maroney, who really went on full blast, really righteous anger here about her mistreatment by the FBI itself. What is the point of reporting abuse if our own FBI agents are going to take it upon themselves to bury that report in a drawer? You know, one thing that really struck me was that Senator Blumenthal and Senator Moran Blumenthal of Connecticut, Moran of Kansas, really took the lead on this a few years ago on the Hill and tried to do some of their own digging about what went wrong here. We don't normally see that kind of oversight in Congress anymore, do we? Well, no. And that's one of the things that strikes me here is that this isn't the kind of thing that Congress really does in this moment. FBI oversight seems to be like at the agency level, not at the case level. And I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. And I've been thinking a lot about this question of oversight

and what Congress's role is here. And it strikes me that, you know, this is the story of women who were, you know, prominent athletes. These are people who have an opportunity to get headlines separately, to bring attention to what happened to them in a way that, you know, everyday people may not. And so this is really unique in the way that it's being handled. I want to follow up on that point that Kelsey just made, and also what Michaela Maroney said. And Carrie, I'm curious what you make of this, because you have done so much reporting in so many different ways on the FBI over the years. If I have the timeline correctly, at the time these calls were made, at the time these complaints were made,

you know, Michaela Maroney was already a world-famous gold medalist, right? And she was basically ignored by the FBI. What message do you think is sent to anybody who says, you know, I think I have some evidence of a major federal crime, but I worry I would just be ignored or dismissed if I called the authorities. You know, there are a couple of things that I'm thinking about still a lot, even a couple of days after this hearing. One is this idea that the two most culpable FBI agents identified by the Justice Department Inspector General

basically got away with no punishment. The main one, who was actually appear to be angling for a job with the Olympic Committee during this investigation, retired three years ago, and he's beyond the reach of any discipline by the FBI. And the second was fired by the FBI a couple of weeks ago. But prosecutors are not intending to go after either of these men for criminal charges, like false statements. And so there's a real issue of accountability and impunity here. And the second thing that really strikes me, Scott, is, you know, there have been investigations of FBI misconduct, in terms of foreign intelligence surveillance, warrants and stuff like that.

But what we heard from these women, these brave women this week, was them pouring their heart out about sexual abuse and sexual assault, and really getting very little in terms of response or comfort from these male FBI agents. And we already know, we already know that many, many cases of sexual assault and sexual abuse are not reported because survivors are afraid of what will happen and that the system will turn them into the person on trial. And so it was just heartbreaking to hear of these young people who were at the top of their game, literally, not getting any relief and having to go to Congress and pour themselves out again in public to try to direct national attention on

these problems and ways in which they need to be fixed. The FBI is still very much a white and a male culture. And the Bureau has been trying to change that over time with not much change actually happening. Carrie, what kind of sense do you have about what the oversight will look like going forward? Is this just a one-off moment where there is a tension here? Or do you get a sense that there is actual real change that might happen that might make this situation better for people in the future? Well, you know, the Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is the guy who basically came up with a lot of these facts, unearthed them. It took a while. But he's a guy with a real track record. He's a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District

of New York. He led the public corruption unit there. And he told senators this week that he's going to remain on the case and he's going to make sure the FBI is making the changes it said it would. But a lot of those are bureaucratic and paperwork and box checking changes, not changes in terms of how are you going to respond when some parent calls you crying about what happened to their little girl or little boy. And that's the hard stuff. Yeah. All right. Well, Carrie, thank you for all of your reporting on this and the future reporting that I'm sure you will be doing on this. Thank you, Scott. All right. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, it'll be time for Can't Let It Go.

Support for NPR and the following message come from BetterHelp, offering online counseling. BetterHelp therapist Hesu Jo shares the unique benefits of therapy. Being in therapy is this very intimate, unique experience to have this other person see you, this other person acknowledge who you are and accept all of it, you know, and like figure out the bits and pieces that you don't want to accept to change that stuff for the better. Even if you're not struggling with something necessarily, but you just want to learn a little bit more about who you are, you want to function a little bit better in your relationships with people or change the way that you approach habits, doing that together with somebody else can be very powerful and impactful

to talk this out and process this together as two humans. To get matched with a counselor and get 10% off your first month, go to betterhelp.com slash politics. We're back. Claudia, I hope you had a great like 10 minutes or so of your life just there. Fabulous. The best 10 minutes of my life. Now that you're back with us, it is time to end the show like we do every week with Can't Let It Go,

which is, of course, the part of the show where we talk about things from the week that we cannot stop talking about, politics or otherwise. Claudia, since you've come back to us, why don't you go first? Yeah, so what I can't let go of, and this is from last weekend, so it's been a while for this one, but I can't let it go. A cat, a stray cat snuck into a stadium. Maybe it lived there. I'm not sure. In Miami, this is for a college football game. Maybe it was there to watch a game.

I'm not sure. Oh, man. And so at one point, this cat appears dangling for dear life off one of these balconies of this stadium. It was a University of Miami. Like the upper deck, right? It was super scary. The upper deck. The cat is dangling from the top. And yes, college football game, University of Miami, Appalachian State. And it probably was the most thrilling scene of all day when we talk about college football that day. And you can just see the

crowds watching as this cat's dangling. There's cops on the upper level trying to direct the cat and the catch of the cat because there's people below with a flag and they're all waiting to catch this cat. And every time the cat looks like it's going to try and make it up or fall down the crowd, you can hear them say, oh oh it's just this crazy sound effect through the whole thing and the cat is struggling struggling until it drops and that's like the real big yell in the stadium and cheers because they catch the cat and then they hold it up lion king style people are going nuts. And the cat is just in this paralysis.

But what's really cute, I think at the end, it starts scratching at all its heroes, including one guy comes up with a cap and it knocks its cap. The guy's capped into his face. It's just totally fabulous. I love Stadium Cat. And the stadium tweeted out, hopefully, you know, it has another eight lives to go. And thank you to all the fans who caught the cat.

I'm glad, Claudia, that you clarified the cat is okay. Because at first you might have sounded like a sociopath if the cat was not okay. I know. At the end, does it appear to you the cat's like embarrassed? Like this is a really low moment. I don't want you all looking at me. I have two cats and I feel like this is a recipe for some cat revenge on wherever it winds up. Because when cats get mad, it's not like they like deal with it well. They're not like processing anger in like a good way. My cat

processes anger by peeing on things. So best of luck to the people who have to take this cat in. I know. Oh no. So I will go next. I do have a can't let it go this week. My perpetual can't let it go is Ted Lasso. I have been informed by the wonderful producers and editors of this podcast that I cannot just talk about it every week. Oh, come on. So this is a loophole, though, because I'm going to talk about it for a moment. I wasn't there for the last time. So I think you can, because we haven't talked about it. We do not get the final edit of this podcast. So we will see. We will see what happens. But I do, I have to make a really important correction because I made a lot of people really angry.

The other week, I was just pouring my love for the show out in an unedited, unguarded moment. And I made a terrible mistake. And I said that he was from Oklahoma. Of course, he is not from Oklahoma. He's from Kansas. And my excuse was I had recently been talking to two friends who had lived in Kansas for a long time about how he kind of has an Oklahoma sounding accent. And I was saying this to one of them. And I was like, look, I need to apologize. Can I mention this conversation? She said, no, I want to have no cover for your terrible error. That was wrong.

So that is an explanation, not excuse. But I do want to fully make a correction and apologize. No cover for Midwestern erasure. No. On to my, I can't let it go. That is not about Ted Lasso because I've been told not to talk about it again. I love it. I'll just keep it. Another show I love is Succession,

which comes back on the air very soon. And I can't wait. Unlike Ted Lasso, everyone in Succession is a horrible human with no redeeming qualities. It's like the, it's the anti-Ted Lasso. It is, it is. I was sad because President Biden

went on a multi-day Western tour. Asma covered it for NPR. She was the pool reporter on the trip. And I was really jealous because the reporters got into their vans one morning in Southern California. And who was driving one of the press vans in the motorcade but Connor Roy, Alan Ruck, the actor, for some reason had volunteered to drive. So Connor Roy was driving the press around, and I was so jealous. I was too. I will make the predictable mom-slash-dad joke, which is I don't know that I would trust him to drive my car.

He didn't do such a great job in Ferris Bueller taking care of his dad. I hope he didn't put it in reverse to try to take the miles off. All right. Well, I'm coming in with a little bit of, you know, trying to have some continuity to my Can't Let It Go, something that I carry through from year to year. And it is now my time to remind everyone that it is nearly Fat Bear Week, which if you are not acquainted... I think about you every time I see the fat bears. Well, it is almost time. And I only know about this because I received an email from our beloved colleague, Scott Horsley, letting me know that it was almost time to cast some votes. I had forgotten about this entirely. So all credit to Scott Horsley on this one.

But the bears are back. Next week is your time to vote for Fat Bear Jr. over at explore.org. And these are the bears in Alaska that the folks over at explore.org have been tracking. They live in a national park out there. And they make their home there and they eat there. And you can watch them on a live cam just hunting salmon and being bears. But yeah, Fat Bear Junior Week is next week and regular Fat Bear Week is the week after. So in the interest of keeping listeners fully up to date, some of your bear options include number 32, also known as Chunk, who was first identified in 2007. And he was estimated to weigh more than 1100 pounds in September 2019.

He is at top tier in the bear hierarchy. Right up there with him is the helpfully named 747, who I assume was just named that for his number in order, but also for the fact that he is the size of an airplane. My favorite fact about 747 is that most bears recognize they cannot compete with him physically and they yield space upon his approach. He comes in at more than 1,400 pounds. I went right now to explore.org and there's a live bear on the screen. It does not appear to be a fat bear. It's like an in-shape bear. Just like a regular bear? Just a regular bear. Not in the competition. It does not appear to be a fat bear. It's like an in-shape bear. It's just like a regular bear?

It's just a regular bear, not in the competition. It's like the undercard. You know, all river hunting bears are enjoyable to watch, fat or not fat. Awesome. That is a wrap for today, having covered dangling cats and fat bears.

Our executive producer is Shirley Henry. Our editors are Mathani Maturi and Eric McDaniel. Our producers are Barton Girdwood and fat bears. Our executive producer is Shirley Henry. Our editors are Mathani Maturi and Eric McDaniel. Our producers are Barton Girdwood and Elena Moore. Thanks to Lexi Schibittle and Brandon Carter. All of them are proud to associate with this fat bear content that we put out five days a week here at the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Scott Detrow. I cover the White House. I'm Claudia Grisales. I cover Congress.

And I'm Kelsey Snell. I also cover Congress. Thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.